Mission Statement

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
is vital to the social and intellectual life of the
College of Liberal Arts and the University of Nevada. We
contribute a crucial component to the university’s
efforts to prepare undergraduate and graduate students
for an increasingly diverse world in which communicating
well across cultures and competing globally determine
success. The quality and effectiveness of the
department’s programs are essential to the success of
the university, both locally, in an increasingly
multilingual State, and globally, in an increasingly
networked world.

The department provides students with the cultural
background, critical thinking skills, and communicative
proficiency they need to navigate in a complex global
environment. The department offers undergraduate
students rigorous, innovative programs of study in their
chosen fields, from basic courses in a variety of
foreign languages to advanced courses in literature,
film, culture, critical theory, translation, and
linguistics. The department offers a Master of Arts
degree program in Spanish that aims to provide students
with a broad knowledge base from which to pursue
more-specialized studies, to offer a depth of experience
in scholarship, and, for graduate assistants, student
teaching and research that will advance their future
professional activities. The department's excellent
placement record attests to its commitment to the
intellectual and professional formation of its graduate
and undergraduate students.

The department promotes discovery,
creativity, and the advancement of knowledge and mutual
understanding. Our faculty is composed of active,
engaged teachers and scholars who present their research
and creative work in major venues, from respected
journals and leading scholarly presses to regional,
national, and international conferences. Our language
teachers use the latest methodologies and teaching
technologies, including the foreign language multimedia
facility, smart classrooms, and the Internet. The
department supports the scholarly and creative work of
its faculty and students at home and abroad, and
recognizes that truly innovative work often changes how
we view our own and other fields of knowledge.

The department serves both the university and the
community. Our faculty devote considerable time to
service at the university, advising students,
administering programs, participating in specialized
committees, and contributing to faculty governance. The
department also plays a significant role in the
community, engaging in outreach programs, film
festivals, interpreting services, and other cultural
activities. Faculty and students donate their time and
professional expertise to the region, the state, the
nation, and the world.

Reasons to Study a Foreign Language

In addition to broadening your life experiences and
your view of the world, studying a foreign language
improves your communication skills and cognitive and
critical thinking abilities. In addition, language study
on your transcripts will give you an advantage in any
career choice. Foreign language study offers a wider
understanding of the cultures of countries trading with
the United States. Multinational corporations seek
employees with multilingual communicative abilities to
compete in a global market. An employer will see the
employee with various language abilities as a bridge to
new clients.

See what Forbes
has to say about how learning a language can save
your career.
See whatWall
Street Journal
has to say about the benefits of learning a
foreign language.